An Unimaginable Hourglass
by ViolaMoon
Summary: Hermione is murdered during the Battle of Hogwarts and Molly now has to watch while her youngest son goes through the grief of both losing his brother and the love of his life. She hopes to help him even though she is suffering from her own grief.


**This story was also written for the Tenth Round of the Seventh Season of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition: Kill them or save them**

**I'm writing as Chaser 1 for The Tutshill Tornados.**

**Chaser 1 prompt: **Kill Hermione Granger

**These are the prompts I'm using as a chaser to score some extra points:**

1: (song) "It's Quiet Uptown"- Hamilton

14: (quote) "Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything." C.S. Lewis

15: (object) hourglass

**Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the world J.K. Rowling has created. It's all hers, from Diagon Alley to Hogwarts to all the people living there.**

**Thanks to my fantastic team for betaing!**

**A/N: Character death, grief processes.**

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**Title: An Unimaginable Hourglass**

**Words: 2875**

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Out of the corner of her eye, Molly watched the duel between Bellatrix Lestrange, Ginny, Hermione, and Luna. She wanted more than anything to jump in, to pull her girls to safety. But that was the way of things in war, young people forced to fight. They'd already lost Fred today; she just hoped with all her being that they wouldn't lose anyone else.

Hermione, Ginny, and Luna were holding their own, but Bellatrix was slowly gaining the upper hand. Molly watched with despair as Bellatrix shot out a Killing Curse; it seemed like it was to hit Ginny, and Molly rushed forward. _Not her, not her only girl!_ She wouldn't lose another one of their children.

But a scream came as the curse hit someone else, hit Hermione. From where Molly stood, she could now see that Bellatrix had actually aimed for her, not Ginny. Her heart broke; Hermione was like a daughter to her. Her son's best friend, his first love. Molly would get justice for her, for her parents, for her son, who would be heartbroken when he saw. The necklace Ron had proudly shown her just days before they had gone on their adventure lay glistening on Hermione's still chest. The scarlet sand was draining much too fast.

Bellatrix just snickered aimed her wand at the girls again, ready to strike once more, to take another life.

Molly stepped in front of the girls and snarled, "Not my daughter, you bitch."

Bellatrix spun around and scoffed, "Your daughter?" She cackled. "You're as foolish as the little Mudblood was."

Ginny and Luna raised their wands as well, ready to avenge their friend.

"Out of my way!" Molly pushed the girls aside; she wouldn't let that woman hurt them like she had Hermione. All the sand was at the bottom of the hourglass around her neck. It was official; she was gone.

The duel between them began; Molly was fuelled by her grief for Fred and Hermione and all those young lives lost in a thoughtless war. She wanted to protect them all. They had such bright futures, taken away by people who cared nothing for what they were destroying.

Molly was going to stop this woman, once and for all.

And she did just that. Bellatrix Lestrange met her end by Molly's wand. They won the war, but at what cost? Ron's heart broke when he saw Hermione's still body. Molly removed the necklace so that Ron could keep it as a memento of his first love.

After they were unable to find her parents, Hermione was buried beside Fred on the outskirts of their garden at the Burrow. That way, they were always home.

**Xx**

It was quiet in the Burrow. Despite the gathering of people, not a word was said, for this was a moment that words couldn't reach.

_**Hermione Jean Granger**_

_**Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.**_

The words were written under the picture frame, a reminder that she was gone. At least Molly had made her pay for what she'd done. But that didn't make Hermione's absence any less painful, for it was everywhere and with everyone; Hermione had left a gaping hole in their lives. One that Molly hoped would someday heal.

"I just can't believe that she is gone…," Ron murmured as he took the hourglass necklace from where it lay in front of the picture and clipped it around his neck. Molly noticed that the hourglass had since flipped so that the sand was in the top chamber and was as dark as the mood in the Weasley household. Despite winning the war, they had lost so much. Her sweet, prank-loving boy, and Ron's best friend, his first love, were gone. It seemed hard to believe. Molly expected to see Fred messing around with George, telling her not to be so serious, to play around with Ginny, and tease Ron, but instead, George was silent, sat in the chair Hermione had often sat in to read when she was visiting. Their absence filled their home so that it felt like the house was empty, despite the gathering of people.

Harry and Ginny sat quietly with George. Harry was not in denial over Hermione's death, but he held her copy of Beedle the Bard, his hand tracing the words scribbled in them by Hermione during the Horcrux hunt.

Molly wandered over to them, giving Ron a moment to himself. Her insides hurt that she could see her family suffering; she ached herself because of her own grief. _Her sweet boy_. But she had to be strong for her family; they needed her, and she couldn't break down now. Arthur was locked in his shed with his Muggle contraptions; he needed space, and Molly would be there for him.

Harry looked over at Molly and smiled a weak, yet warm smile. "How are you doing Mrs Weasley?" He placed the book down carefully on the coffee table and rose to give her a hug. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

'He's such a sweet boy,' Molly thought but shook her head. "No dear, I'm okay." Molly looked over again at Ron who was lost in his own thoughts.

"Actually dear, could you spend some time with Ron? I think he needs you more than he needs me right now." Her voice quivered just a tad; it broke her heart to see her family suffer. Harry nodded, hugged her once more and walked over to his best friend, pulling him from his thoughts.

"It was a beautiful service," Harry murmured. "She would have liked it."

"She would have liked living," Ron muttered. "She should be here. It's not right."

"I know." Harry fell silent.

They wandered into the garden where a cool summer breeze blew away the quiet atmosphere that had clung to them inside the house. As Molly observed them from a distance, she noticed Harry reach out to Ron. He tried to place a hand on Ron's shoulder and he said something. Molly could see the support and sympathy in Harry's eyes.

Ron nodded and then turned to Harry, his eyes shimmering with uncried tears. He seemed to mutter something, to which Harry tried to reply. But before he could, Ron had Apparated away to Merlin knows where.

Molly broke down, now unable to control her tears at the loss of two of their family and her inability to help her youngest boy through his heartbreak.

**xx**

Molly hadn't heard from Ron in two months. She knew that everyone grieved in their own way. But it worried her, not to hear from him for so long. She had heard rumours that he was a regular at the various bars and pubs in Diagon Alley, that he was getting into fights with anyone and everyone, that he was out of control. Molly got it; she was angry too. She wanted to scream, march into Azkaban… and make all of them pay.

It took everything she had to hold it in, to keep her family together. Luckily George was doing a little better, and Harry and Ginny were doing their best to support everyone even though they were hurting just like Molly was. Arthur and Percy were burying themselves in their work. They were determined to make the world a better place, to make the deaths mean something. Molly just wanted her family to feel whole again. Without the void that was left after the deaths of Fred and Hermione.

"I heard that Ron got into a fight again," Harry said as he joined them for breakfast one morning. "I tried talking to him, but he is in a very dark place. I offered to let him come stay with me, but he tried to hit me." Harry rubbed the back of his neck and frowned. "After that, he just wandered off, muttering to himself."

Molly sighed. "Do you know where he's staying?"

Harry shook his head. For all Molly knew, he could be lying in a ditch somewhere. She needed to find him before he hurt himself. If only Hermione were here. She would have kicked his behind and got him out of this rut. Sadly, she was gone, and Molly knew that only she could help Ron. "I'll help him, Harry. Everything will be okay."

She hugged the young man who was like a son to her.

He breathed a sigh of relief, murmuring, "I miss them too."

"I know, Harry. We are going through something impossible right now."

Xx

She found Ron two days later. Molly had asked Tom at the Leaky Cauldron to contact her if Ron came in. He was haggard with a beard that reminded Molly of her father. Despite his tall stature, he seemed so small, like that little boy who always wanted to prove himself to his older brothers. Molly's heart ached for him. The hourglass necklace now had red sand and was starting to filter down to the bottom chamber. Molly wondered what was causing it to change so much; it was a simple necklace, supposedly nothing special, but her intuition said otherwise.

"Ron darling," Molly said, walking over to him. "Please come home with me."

Ron walked past her and sat at the bar, ordering a Firewhisky.

"Ron, please," Molly urged. "Let me take care of you."

Silence filled the crowded bar as Ron drank his drink and ignored his mother.

Molly shrugged and sat down next to him. "Two more Firewhiskies please, Tom."

Ron looked over at her. "You're going to drink?"

"Yes, Ronald Weasley. I am angry and upset just like you, so if you will excuse me, I want to have a drink." She downed a whisky. It burnt as it went down, and she felt it give her the courage to speak with full honesty.

"Ron… I get that you are suffering, I do." She looked directly in his eyes and felt a connection with her son for the first time in a long while. "I know that you miss Hermione. We all do, but we lost your brother too, and we need you. I need you." A tear fell down her cheek, and it was mirrored in his own.

"I know… I am sorry…," he sobbed, breaking down for the first time. "If only I could go back… I could save her… I should have protected them both."

Molly shook her head and placed a hand on his as he moved to take her second glass. "No more alcohol, Ron."

She watched as he considered it for a moment, as sobs still wracked his body. He let his hand fall. "I see her everywhere, Mum. I never got to tell her exactly how I felt… She loved this necklace." He touched the hourglass where the sand had turned green and was roughly a third of the way into the bottom chamber.

"She knew Ron; she loved you too. I know that you know that." She reached over and hugged him tightly; she would do anything to take his pain away. She felt her own tears falling, and he was slowly coming back to her. She couldn't stand to lose him too. Her family couldn't withstand another loss. Two was more than enough, more than any family should have to deal with.

"I thought if I found a time-turner… then maybe I could go back and save her. I would trade my life for hers in an instant… She would have done such great things in this world… It's not fair that I live, and she died." He sobbed into his mother's shoulder. "And Fred too. He made so many people happy with his shop… and George… He needs him."

"Do not say that Ronald Weasley!" Molly pulled back and gave him a stern look. "You are important! You helped save the wizarding world! You have just as much to give as she did!" Her face softened, and she grasped his hands, "Listen to me, Ron. Every life lost in that thoughtless war is a tragedy. Fred and Hermione were both incredibly special, but we can't change the past. They are gone; we can only learn to live with their absence. Learn to live for them."

He nodded, defeated. "Thanks, Mum, I'm sorry… I will come home if you let me."

"Oh, you can always come home." She smiled. He was back.

Xx

Six months on and things started to return to normal. Ron had stopped drinking and had settled in back at home much to Molly's relief. George had reopened the shop. He said that it wasn't the same, but that he owed it to Fred to keep going. Ginny had gotten a position on the Holyhead Harpies as a Chaser, and the family couldn't be prouder. Harry had even started training to be an Auror.

Molly only wished that Ron would have made more progress. It was like he had regressed into childhood again. At first, she had accepted it. Ron had lost the love of his life before they'd even had the chance to acknowledge each other's feelings. So, he sat up in his room reading old comics. Everyone else had moved on with their lives, but Ron seemed to have forgotten that he had a future, that he had options. Molly wondered if he was scared to move on.

"Arthur… we need to talk about Ron," Molly said as he walked into the house after work one day.

"Molly, he's doing fine. He just needs time." Arthur sighed, embracing his wife.

"It has been eight months since we lost them. I am… still struggling myself but we all need to start moving forward," she urged him. "Please if you could just talk to him… get him doing something where he feels useful."

She wanted him so desperately to be happy; she couldn't stand the thought of losing another son. One was too many; she wouldn't lose Ron because he was afraid to move on with his life.

Arthur nodded. "Okay, I will see what I can do."

That evening, they broached the subject of work with Ron.

"Ronald dear, I think it is time that you got out there…" Molly stated, piling a giant blob of mashed potato on his plate.

Ron looked confused. He was about to speak when Arthur interjected, "We mean that maybe you should try getting a job, try finding something you want to do with your life."

"I don't know…"

"Ron. I get that you are sad. I am too, but we need to move on," Molly said. "Fred and Hermione would want us to."

"I know but…. I just don't know what I want to do with my life. My whole school life has been Hermione bossing Harry and I around, Hermione helping us with our homework, telling us what we should do." Ron shrugged with a loud sigh. "I feel lost without her."

"Well if she was here right now, what do you think she'd tell you?" Arthur asked, thoughtfully.

Ron held the hourglass in his hand, the sand had been blue for a long time, but it seemed to grow lighter as it filed down into the bottom chamber. "She would want me to help my family… I know I always said I wanted to be an Auror, but maybe for now… I could help George in the shop?"

Molly smiled; a breakthrough. Her youngest boy was going to be okay; she could feel it, and that meant that she would be okay too. She eyed the necklace that he had worn since that first day and swore she saw it light up for just a second as the sand turned to a pearlescent white.

Xx

The one year anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts arrived, and with it, the anniversary of the deaths of Hermione and Fred. They held a small celebration at the Burrow, to celebrate the victory and to celebrate the lives of those no-longer with them.

Molly smiled as she looked around the bustling garden. Everyone was smiling; everyone was happy despite the absence of their loved ones. For the family would live on for their sake.

Ron walked over to his mum who smiled when she saw him. He had found his calling working in Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. His gift for strategy had proven an asset in terms of running the store which left George to focus on inventing new products.

"How are you doing, Mum?" he asked, handing her a drink.

"Oh, I'm just enjoying seeing everyone's happy faces. After the past year, we deserve this." She took a sip of her drink and looked over at the necklace; the sand had been in the bottom chamber for some time. "Did you get it checked out?"

They had all wondered why it had changed colours, as they had placed no charms on it so it should have stayed the scarlet Ron had chosen when he gave it to Hermione.

Ron nodded, his eyes glistening as he lovingly clutched the necklace. With a poignant silence, Molly looked at the hourglass in her son's hand.

He was going to be okay.

They were doing the unimaginable.

She was going to be okay too.


End file.
